One Week Mark

I’ve been a self-published author for about a week. I’ve thought about how I’m going to address my “public image.” Whether I’m going to pretend to be some big time author or if I’m going to be honest with myself and what few fans I have. I’m going to be honest.

There are a lot of dreamy pictures associated with being an author. A lot of things are left out. Like how many traditionally published authors are making ridiculously low royalties on their work. How authors need to do their own marketing. How you have to work to gain a fanbase. I’ve known all of those things because I do a lot of reading about this trade (as every aspiring author should do, and precious few actually do). However, they’re sinking in quickly.

The end result? I love it. Every bit of it. I love emailing book blogs and updating my social media sites and writing newsletters and blog posts and planning promotion ideas and thinking about my next books and, most especially, writing my next book. It’s incredible.

Now, as of the time I am writing this post I am not a full-time author. Far from it. I’m still in college for Pete’s sakes, and I haven’t even made $100 on the book yet. But I absolutely love the process, and I’m proud of my work. That makes it a whole lot easier to be okay with the fact that I’m not successful yet.

I’m being pretty transparent. Consider that a sign of things to come. I’ll be writing til I die, so I’m not going to drop off the planet because I’m not an overnight success (hello, no one is. This is an oversaturated market, after all). So stick around, because I’m here to stay. And if you don’t like my work, that’s fine. Thankfully the internet is pretty non-discriminatory. If you like it though, I’m very grateful to have you as a fan. And you should sign up for my newsletter.